Silence

by K. P. Aldrich

I am afraid, but not of you.
I’m afraid of the future that silence brews.
The evil within, the greed without,
that turns the soil to ash and drought.
The bitter taste of hope undone—
of iron and salt, of love outgunned.
The blood that runs under quiet feet.
The violence that treads along still streets.
I am afraid, though not of you,
but of the horrors your silence approves.